The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-17
YANKEE MINERS IN CHINA
COLD MINES N TIE FLoWERY
KINGDOM TO BE REOPENED.


From the Ne,o York Herald
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL, Oct. 5.--While
neonle are wondering what to make Of the
now Arabian Nights Entertainment by
Count Won Mitkiewicz, little expedition is
departing from this port which may effect
more for the Americapization of China than
+ba day-dlea1ns Of all the Counts that have
over been counted. Among the passengers
who sailed last month, in the City of Pekin
for Yokohama were Mr.. a. NJ. Ellsworth,
n mining man of experience; Arthur E.
Roberts. as5ayer; Frank ]. Mel. machinist
Mark J. Lidstone, millmall; Mel Diven,
mining foreman; and Charles Taylor, pros
rertor. All these are in the service Of the
Government of China, engaged under spe-
cial contract to reopen and work the gold
and silver mines in the Providence of Shan
Tung.
70 understand the new departure it is
necessary TO go back long way. Gold and
silver mining was at one Time a fiourishing
industry in China. There is reason to be-
Ieye that The Chinese used gold coins at
neriod anterior to the date of those Greek
and Parthian specimens which form the de-
Gqht of numerismatists They are said to
have been cubes witho It Inscriptions. How
ever this may be, the art OF mining died out
This was due to several causes. In mining,
as in other mechanical pursuits, the Chi
nese reached certain distance, and no fur
finer. They learned how to mine ore and
10 separate mineral from rock, but they
never discovered how to pump water out
or pure air into underground workings.
Hence in all their mines there came time
when foul gases and water drove out the
miners
Still more fatal to the mining industry
was the superstition of the Feng Shin.
The Feng Shin were underground demons
who were quiet and well behaved enough
so long as they were unmolested in their
subterraanean abode, but became trouble
some and malignant if their rest were dis
turbed 1t was discovered that epidemicS
and famines followed the workings of GER
rain Mines and it was demonstrated with
out difficulty that the visitations were cue
TO the Justly irritat3d Feng kin.
The controversy lasted sonr' years, as stch
things do in China. But it ended III ihe
issue of an imperial rescript absolutely pro
IL ing the prosecution OF drifU-nblng
uL.. penalty of death This edict is sup
nos.l to have been issued about a century
before the dis ynverJ of America by Olum-
bus 1t has never been strictly enforced,
Mining has always been prosecuted T. some
extent III CJEaL oil / ulluttll anu IlOlldl- Oil
the Yang-tse Kiang and its confpnts, III
the streams of SEE Chuen, and Throughout
Mantchooria, gravel-mining has always
been followed as business by a prton Of
the people Allusicns to the minra! out
put of the empire are scatterel through
the works of Pumpelly, Davis, De Carne,
and others. More recen5 Writer'S, such
as Williams and Won R1cnthofen,
mention the fact that the peclous met
ais are produced without entfing into de-
tails
Still. the Disappearance of gold and the
absence of a gold currency how that the
edict, though not STRICTLY carried out, had
the desired effect OF putting stop to min
ing as a regular industry 1t Is only within
few years that the Chinese government
resolved to reverse its policy IN this re-
suect. The financial Stats i'll which the
empire found itself during the French
war satisfied its leadng men that China
could not hold its OWN the family of ma
tions unless it provldi itself with a gold
currency. 1t was rsolved to reopen the
mines.
Gold, like coal, islound IN every one of
the nineteen provnes of China. But the
largest and most aeessible source of supply
is to be found in ts range of hills which
divides the Loess fairie of North Central
China from the ocG1 slopes. Those hills
can he traced fronhe shore of the Gulf of
Pectuli. in the Prdnce of Shan Tung, down
into Quang Tung. 1t is quite likely that
they are mineral Earring throughout. Mr..
Ellsworth told t. Herald correspondent
that Americans cid form no idea Of the
Quantity of gold China there was far
more there than ne.
In former daysvhen the Chinese mines
were worked, % of the most active
mineral fields layack of Che Foo, in the
Province of SIN Tung, When Ii
Hung Chang andrince Kung resolved in
1894 to resume T. working of the mines
they selected thisbot to commence opera
tons.
The Viceroy lplied to his friend, Sir
Robert Hart, foI competent miner to di-
rect the works Iir Robert had friend
named Beecher, no was supposed to be a
competent mineDecauSe he had relatives
who had inveStdmoney in Australia. On
Harris accommodation he was engaged.
He seems to hal known enough about his
business to orda twenty-stamp mill from
this city, but int know enough to set 1t
up. For thaHb Ellsworth was dispatched
to Trina frorShe Union Iron Works. He
is quiet tadIrn, business-like man, and
just took I'd Chinese fancy. They dis
charged Beaer and. put Ellsworth in his
place. He brmed them that if he was to
run the Che 10 mines he must have Amerl-
can machiIy and American assistants.
They gave IN carte Blanche and thus, as
said, he h sailed from San Francisco
with sf Of five assistants and
a completettfit of steam engines, hoist
ing macIhry, pumps, air-compressors,
drills, cagdrailroad track, and tools OF all
kinds
The min which Ellsworth is going to ex
plot lie sce l40 miles inland from Che
n Foo, abou00 miles from Shanghai, anc
perhaps q miles from Tientsin. The for
a nation isle same as i'll the Sierra i'll this
n State u ore is found in the quartz. II
III turns oubout $40 worth of bullion to the
ton. In b ore are streaks of sulphuret'
a which wtun $3.50 and $500 to the ton. But
n in Chinal0 ore if there is plenty OF 1t, anc
it can belsily hoisted and taken to the
4 mill, is aIood thing as any man neeec
want 1ere are mines on the Comstoch
which arbandling $40 ore without loss
with min wages fixed at 81 u day by the
cast-ronhles of the Miners Union. Labor
In China worth not over 15c. a day anc
the mind are not as particular about the
length ohe shifts as they are on Mount
Davidsol
In Chi the fee of all real estate is IN the
governnht. Cinnamon hold their land and
houses lvirtue of receipts from the gov
enmenEpecify ing that they have paio
their taB. Thus no legal process was ne
cesSaryi establish the government title *
the Chfo mines When it was resolved
to worlhem Mr.. Owyang Ming, distln
guishefhinaman whose ancestors had beer
In the tblic service before the Christian